Prime Rib is a wonderful meat which adds unmatched elegance to a meal. It is not difficult for cooking prime rib, even though it requires deliberate attention during the course of cooking. The meat made by a good cook comes out tender, moist and extremely flavorful and it can be served as the perfect main dish for Christmas or New Year’s dinners, or any meal that calls for an extra special entree. The following instructions of cooking prime rib are easy to follow, print them out and enjoy a wonderful prime rib dinner!

1. To begin, the first thing you should prepare is a good meat thermometer which can help you know the desired temperature.

2. Before cooking, the rib needs to be put at room temperature to make sure it cooks evenly. Let it sit out for up to about two hours right before you are ready to roast it.

3. Next, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and use paper towels to pat the prime rib dry. Remember to rub butter on the cut ends of the roast which can guarantee the best flavor. You can also rub the rib, according to your own taste, with kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder making sure to cover all the meat.

4. Finally, place the roast in a heavy metal roasting pan and put it in your oven. Initially, cooks the rib at 450 °F for 15 minutes. Afterward, turn the oven to lower temperature at 325 °F for the rest of cooking time.

5. You may wonder how much time cooking prime rib may need. In fact, as you look over some prime rib recipes you’ll be confused to find a wide range of prime rib cooking times. Some recipes call for one hour and some recipes say that the roast should be cooked for six hours. There’s a reason for this discrepancy. That is because the time of cooking prime rib depends a lot on the size of the rib and the doneness.

The 2 tables below shown the examples of how most prime rib should be done. Please use the table only for guidelines as the quality of the rib is mostly depending on how much attention you put into it. To reach your desire result make sure that you occasionally check the interior temperatures of the prime rib.

Prime Rib Sizes

Estimated Weight

Oven Temperature

Estimated Cook Time

Doneness

4 to 6 pounds

450/325 °F

60 to 70 minutes

Rare

7 to 9 pounds

450/325 °F

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours

Rare

9 to 11 pounds

450/325 °F

1 3/4 to 2 1/4 hours

Rare

12 to 14 pounds

450/325 °F

2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours

Rare

14 to 16 pounds

450/325 °F

3 to 3 1/4 hours

Rare

16 to 19 pounds

450/325 °F

3 1/4 to 4 hours

Rare

Doneness(Temperature level at the center of the Rib Measured by The Meat Thermometer)

Doneness

Temperature

Description

Rare

120 to 120 °F

Red Center, Pink Exterior

Medium Rare

130 to 135 °F

Pink Center, Brown Exterior

Medium

140 to 145 °F

Light Pink Center, Brown Exterior

Medium Well

150 to 155 °F

Light Brown Center, Brown Exterior

Well Done

160 to 170 °F

All Brown

Generally speaking, there are two basic methods for cooking prime rib as for the high temperature and low temperature. Prime rib cooking times are mostly determined by whether you are cooking at high temperature or low temperature.

Some people love the slow cooking method and we can’t deny that this way can bring out wonderful flavors in the prime rib and produce some of the juiciest roasts imaginable. In this way, the prime rib cooking times can be extended to five or six hours.

On the other hand, there are those who stick to cooking prime rib in a hot oven. This method reduces prime rib cooking time so that the meat contains more juices. However, this fast cooking method depends on the roast staying in the warm oven for at least one hour after the heat is turned off. During this course, the meat is still cooking, so to some extent, this method requires actually three hours in cooking prime rib.

Sample of A Delicious Medium Rare Prime Rib Cooked By A Buffet

Of course, no matter which way you like cooking prime rib, you have to check the interior temperature to make sure that it is cooked all the way through. Anyway, take it easy. It is said you have to learn to wait patiently for the delicious food because it needs to be cooked heart and soul.

5 Responses to “How To Cook Prime Rib”

thank you for all of the information and the tables indicating the temperatures for the variable done ranges. Bill. you should refer to the table if you are looking for the rare med. or well done information. It is there plain and clear. I have printed this table for our continued usage. Thanks so much!